We hope you enjoy reading the stories about how people throughout the state of Wisconsin are using the Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards. We need more stories representing child care, preschool, Head Start, Birth to 3 Early Intervention, 3 though 5 Special Education, 4 and 5-year-old Kindergarten, Community Support Organizations, Higher Education, Policymakers and stories from families.
We would like to add your story to this page. Please email your story to arlenewright@charter.net.
4K Wausau Public School District
Julie Burmesch, Principal A.C. Kiefer Educational Center Coordinator WSD Pre-Kindergarten Programs 700 W/ Strowbridge St Wausau, WI 54401715-261-0265
How did you use the WMELS as a guide to developing 4K benchmarks? What processes did you use to develop your benchmarks?
First, we cross-referenced the Wausau School District Standards and Benchmarks with the WMELS. Then we met to look at all we had to teach and identified key concepts that we felt all pre-k students should have by the time they entered (as a guide to EC teachers) and when they left the pre-k program.
These grade level power standards or power indicators were compared with entrance standards that the 5K teachers developed. We took a look at the 5K teacher input and made further modifications. Now that we have our power standards, we are meeting to "unwrap" the standards. The unwrapping process involves, "pinpoint(ing) the important concepts and skills students need to know and be able to do and ... help(ing) students (to) develop their higher level thinking skills". The unwrapping process involves,
While working on this process, teachers had the WMELS in hand along with our own standards and benchmarks. Top of page
How did you use the WMELS as a guide to develop or select curriculum/assessment? What processes did you use to develop or select your curriculum/assessment?
Attachments of examples that you would be willing to share with others. Currently, we are involved in this process. We are taking our Power Standards and looking at precursor skills to determine a scope and sequence of development. The WMELS have been very helpful in this regard. It provides us with a developmental sequence to reference. It also provides strategies to elicit the specific behaviors. Our next step will be to develop rubrics to measure progress with individual students. Top of page
4K Waukesha Public School DistrictI recently met with staff from the Waukesha Public School District. They are beginning to explore implementing Community Approaches to serving four-year-olds. Their curriculum committee is using the Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards to guide their selection of curriculum and assessment process for this new program. Since the Standards apply to a variety of learning environments such as preschool, child care and also align with Head Start Standards, Waukesha can develop a curriculum and assessment model that will be consistent and developmentally appropriate across all the settings in their community.
They will also be able to use the Standards as part of their parent involvement activities both as parent education and to support documentation of learning strategies at parent conferences. People in many different early childhood education and care settings in the Southeast Region are excited about the new WMELS edition and are finding more ways to use it in their work. Top of page
4K Wisconsin Rapids Public School District
Terry Whitmore, Wisconsin Rapids Public Schools, 4K Director, 715-435-3340 or 715-569-4115, terry.whitmore@wrps.org
The Wisconsin Rapids Public Schools 4K Collaborative began a year before opening our doors to serve 4K students in the fall of 2004. As the Collaborative worked to roll out 4K services, the Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards were used exclusively as a guide for creating play based, educational experiences for students. Working with our CESA coach to learn more about the standards, the Collaborative used the standards as our guide for the first two years.
After the WMELS training and viewing company-made curriculums, the Collaborative decided to work through the "process" of creating our own District curriculum using the Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards. Because the design process included all stakeholders, it took 4K curriculum designers out to families, 5K teachers, early childhood teachers, and other early learning groups to collect feedback. This proved to be very rewarding for all stakeholders.
Since rolling out the standards based curriculum, the Collaborative has used the ECERS (Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale, Revised Edition) and the ELLCO (Early Language and Literacy Classroom Observation Toolkit, Research Edition) and focused in on specific areas of our curriculum to strengthen each year. During the 2008-09 school year, the Collaborative focused on creating a document (standards based) that defines the top 10 essentials of the curriculum....areas of development that are MOST important to Collaborative stakeholders and the early learning community. Based on these 10 essentials, user friendly assessments have been designed and professional growth experiences (for teachers through collaboration) have and will be centered around areas of student weakness. Top of page
4K Stevens Point Public School District
Tammy Tautges, ttauges@wispk12.wi.us
I am in a 4K collaboration for my 2nd year. I am a 4K Model II English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher for the Stevens Point School District. Our program is combined with FDC Head Start. We use "Creative Curriculum" which aligns with the WMELS for lesson planning and assessment. We also use a published series for instruction that gives ideas to meet our Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards, it's called, Houghton Mifflin
Pre-K "Where Bright Futures Begin" which includes materials for ten thematic units that are each 3 weeks long. There are tips for teachers with ELL's written in the teacher planning manuals. There are beautiful posters for discussion that help with social/emotional goals. There are great small group activities in this series. The literature component features big books and other read alouds with a nice balance of fiction and non-fiction. I would highly recommend this series for other 4K teachers who work with English Language Learners. Top of page
Building Bridges for Children (BB4C), Chippewa Falls School District
Jill Hietpas, Coordinator Building Bridges 4 Children, Chippewa Falls Area Unified School District, (715) 726-2416 or (715) 577-0441, bb4c@chipfalls.k12.wi.us, http://cfsd.chipfalls.k12.wi.us/depts/dw/bb4c/index.html
Our initial group of 4k and kindergarten teachers attended training on the Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards; however that was prior to the new 2008 version being released so there is some discussion that we may discuss training additional opportunities for WMELS Training when we address professional development with BB4C and K5 teachers at our transition meeting in May.
Our newest endeavor as we transition kids from 4-year-old early learning to 5K is to provide our district personal (k5 teachers, guidance staff, principals) with what we call a BB4C Student Snapshot Form. This form imports winter checkpoint data from Creative Curriculum.net on 13 different CC objectives. A planning team inclusive of K5, BB4C, guidance representatives, and administrators defined these 13 objectives (of the 50 objectives in CC BB4C teachers use for assessment) and kindergarten teachers supported the concept at their curriculum level meeting. (Note, the objectives were analogous to items on their "screening" list used in previous years with some variance to match CC objectives).
BB4C teachers can also include comments that provide strategies, tools, which support the rating and/or other high-needs considerations that may benefit the district staff as children attend K5 registration days and create class lists. This is not a form for the cumulative file and is strictly a "snapshot" of where the child is on the continuum mid-winter for registration purposes.
The planning team proposed two forms to the kindergarten teachers; one included the alignment of the WMELS with the Creative Curriculum objectives. However, kindergarten staff chose to use only the form that had the CC objective as it was easier to view/use as many children come through K5 registration. The WMELS/Creative Curriculum Alignment document on Collaborating Partners website is a great tool and was used it to create these forms. In addition, we will make this available to our teachers at the Transition Meeting in May when we reflect on Kindergarten Registration days. I've attached both forms for you to use/view. There is still opportunity to do more, but this is a start. Note: Contact Jill Hietpas for sample forms. Top of page
Early Childhood Special Education and 4K, Howards Grove Public School District
Amie Veldman, Howards Grove, Early Childhood Special Education Teacher aveldman@hgsd.k12.wi.us or jacaveldman@hotmail.com
I have been using the new WMELS to guide my IEP goal development this past year. I have found it very helpful in making functional, developmental goals-- ones that help school staff as well as parents. I especially love being able to share examples of what a particular benchmark looks like and having a specific reference to give parents. The 4K teacher I am co-teaching with has been looking it over and comparing the assessment tool they use with it. We just started working on developing a developmental screening tool this year and WMELS was a great resource to guide us. Top of page
Mellen Public School
Kris Kruzan ECSE/Pre-K Teacher 420 S. Main Street Mellen, WI 54546
I used the WMELS to create a skills checklist, similar to a report card. This checklist is completed at the end of each quarter. We are in a Pre-k through 12th grade school and using the WMELS keeps the program in alignment with the entire school. By using the standards parents, school board members, and other officials can see the importance of early childhood.
It also provides examples of learning through play, it is age appropriate, follows the state standards to correlate with kindergarten, and gives validity to play-based learning and an educational setting for early childhood. We have had difficulty in the past with Pre-K being considered free daycare and not an educational setting with numerous benefits to offer children.
With the DPI backing the standards they are taken more seriously than just verbal or written explanations from a single teacher. The standards are a great tool when writing IEP goals as well. I use the Creative Curriculum along with the standards because they seem to compliment each other so well.
Both offer areas of examples, standards, research, and ideas for a teacher to use without being a strict day to day curriculum. I enjoy the open ended ability of the WMELS to make individual lesson plans based on the area I teach in, the environment around us, nature, and the children’s interests.
Collaborating partners has already cross-referenced WMELS and the Creative Curriculum for us as a great reference tool. During parent/teacher conferences in August I’ve included the skills checklist on a power point for parents to view while we discuss what a play-based curriculum looks like.
I stress that each day their child should come home and say they played, but all of the skills listed are what comes out of playing. The WMELS are also included in a brochure sent home in May to new parents. Each elementary teacher has a brochure to keep a consistent resource for parents along with school personnel and programming goals.
During conferences, play days, open houses, and family events I have created a poster of the kids playing and list the WMELS skills being learned through play. This provides a great visual to see learning in action. I used the WMELS as part of my masters program, which is when I created the power point, brochure, and researched the development standards. The skills checklist was developed during summer staff development time. Top of page
WMELS as a Guide to Development of IEP Goal Bank and WMELS as a Guide for Progress Monitoring
Madison Metropolitan School District, Tamar S. Jacobsohn, MMSD Early Childhood Special Education Program Support Teacher, 608-663-8470
I am writing from the Madison Metropolitan School District to request if it is possible to utilize the Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards (WMELS) for the following purposes:
If permission is granted for this, is it possible to get the WMELS in a word document for these purposes? I look forward to hearing from you. Many thanks, Tamar Jacobsohn HI Tamar, Yes, you can use the document language within the IEP goal bank. The developmental continuum can provide parents with such great information to watch for progress.
Yes, the standards can be used as a guide for progress monitoring, but I caution that the WMELS should not be used simply as a check list stand-alone.
The WMELS are available at:
http://www.collaboratingpartners.com/wmels-about.php and you are able to cut and paste the information into a community based document. Unfortunately, I do not have the full WMELS document available in word document to share at this time.
I am including Arlene Wright on this email exchange, as she is always interested in learning how individual school districts are utilizing the WMELS.
Thanks for asking the questions Tamar.
Kath McGurk, WMELS Steering Committee Member Wisconsin Department of Children and Families Top of page
Child Care, Meriter Children's Center
Pamela Bennett, Manager, Meriter Children's Center, (608) 417-6576 pbennett@meriter.com
As a program, we adopted the WMELS as our Curriculum Standards as we revised our curriculum during our NAEYC Accreditation work. This was a team decision. After we had the WMELS training, staff felt it was an important next step for us to align our program with the state-wide standards, and the standards were already in alignment with our philosophy, so it was a no-brainer. Each classroom builds/interprets their classroom curriculum using the WMELS as domain/skill guides. We have not yet added a formal WMELS section into our curriculum plans posted in the classrooms....maybe in the future.
In rewriting our Curriculum Guide for Families & Staff, we wrote in a statement linking our program curriculum with the WMELS. We highlighted our new Curriculum Guide in our MCC Family Newsletter, featuring the WMELS guiding principles. Our Curriculum Guide is available on our website, along with a link to the WMELS document.
Recently, we have been hosting Family Forums to support families' understanding of our curriculum approach. We start off the forum with an activity that has been highly successful and fun for families - and has "turned around" many of the parents who have been advocating for "more academics". We begin with a collection of learning materials (science, math, language, sensory), and in small groups, ask families to "play" with the materials as their children might.
We then ask them to brainstorm all the skills their children might be practicing while playing with the material. Next we hand them an envelope with about 10 index cards listing some specific WMELS standards/benchmark skills (one on each card). We ask the small groups to look through the index cards and identify all the WMELS standards/skills that apply to their learning materials. Then all share back.....it's been an awesome experience.
I explain that doing this exercise "hands-on" has particular meaning....and that we could have tried this exercise with a worksheet, or other 2-D presentation, but that might have limited the depth of learning..... I end with "so what did we learn in this playful moment?"
I also found that the WMELS carries weight with many families we work with. They see that work we have been doing for years corresponds with the WMELS. We are using the WMELS as a guide in our children's center, it has the "State DPI" seal of approval, and it is the standards for the public school system. It reinforces that the choices the families have made for their child's education are sound and wise - something every parent appreciates feeling. There is credence in the WMELS as a community collective standard. Top of page
Homeless Consultant and Liaisons
Linda Hurst, Preschool Consultant Education for Homeless Children and Youth program Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (262) 723-6560 or (608) 266-5184
Last month I handed out the new Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards booklet to homeless liaisons in several school districts. This week I met with one of the liaisons who attended that meeting and she reported that she had shared the Standards with kindergarten teachers in her district. She said they were very excited to see the new Standards. I am glad that we included examples of how to support young children from families experiencing homelessness in the Example Strategies for Adults.
In researching how to support children in the classroom whose families are in homeless situations, I have found that the Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards can be especially helpful for teachers serving children from this particular segment of the early childhood population. Families in extreme poverty desperately need the support of developmentally appropriate practices that are outlined in the Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards. Top of page
Shaking-Baby Training for Parents and Caregivers
Wendi Schreiter, MSE,CSW CESA 7 PST/ECSE (920) 841-2555, W6751 Sunnyvale Lane Greenville, WI 54942
We were looking for a consistent, up-to-date reference for parents and caregivers to use when teaching about triggers for crying or other behaviors. We needed them to know what to expect, what typical development looks like.
WMELS was perfect to refer to in our powerpoint. It can be accessed online, immediately or ordered bound, which is a plus. Helping parents or other caregivers to understand typical development is integral to them not getting angry or stressed over things that all little kids do. WMELS was the perfect fit. Top of page
Northern Door Children's Center
Cindy Trinkner-Peot, Executive Director Northern Door Children's Center, Ndcc2010@hotmail.com
Our entire teaching staff participated in a WMELS full-training.
The WMELS framework benefited us as teachers in the following ways. Previous to the training, we as early childhood educators were always searching for and finding multiple sources for planning lessons and assessing the progress of our students. Many of these sources were very helpful, but always needed to be integrated into existing practice. The WMELS framework has given us a common framework into which we can organize many lessons, ideas, practices and philosophies.
We now have a way to smoothly transition from lessons to assessment as well as smooth transitions in preparing and assessing children as they move from developmental level to developmental level. Everything is so much smoother! We are streamlined and consistent in determining benchmarks, preparing lessons and assessing progress. We are also able to speak a common language with other EC professionals when discussing children and their progress. The WMELS put us all on the same page! And when we're all on the same page, we can finally begin to read the book! Top of page
WMELS used for Course Credit at UW-Platteville
Linda Hurst, Collaboration Coach for the Southeast Region, llhurst51@yahoo.com
I teach the Child Care Administrator Credential series of courses for UW-Platteville. Currently I am co-teaching two of those courses. In fact in Course 2 of the series on Program Operations, we included discussion board questions on the Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards.
The students have to access the Standards document and answer questions regarding the Introductory Section, the Guiding Principles and the Performance Standards. This is another way that the WMELS are being included in UW-P curriculum. Top of page
Arlene Wright, WMELS Coach October, 2009